Lulu: Level Help, Pix! or Glitterlance?

This article has now been updated after patch 1.6.

First, we'll take a look at raw numbers.

Glitterlance:

CD -- 7
Mana Cost -- 60 (+5)
Damage -- 80 (+45)
Slow Duration -- 1 (+.25)

Help, Pix!:

CD -- 10
Mana Cost -- 60 (+10)
Shield Strength -- 60 (+45)
Damage -- 80 (+50)

Leveling E over Q gives you an additional 5 damage to one target OR a shield of 45 instead of 45 damage, with +5 relative mana cost change.

Leveling Q over E gives you .25 seconds superior slow and an additional 40 total damage if you hit two targets.

So, which one should we level, and in what circumstances?

If you're just going for superior trading between your ADC and their ADC early in lane, E will help you more if the fight is close, while Q will help you more if you're dominating (and they're running away from you):

• Shield of 45 is actually more efficient than damage of 45 because a shield is true health, whereas the damage is magic damage---you'll actually do only 35 damage to them assuming no pen on you and no bonus MR on them (reasonable assumption because they'll probably have some MR and you'll probably have some MPen).
• Single-target damage of E is greater than single-target damage of Q, damaging second target doesn't matter that much unless you have lots of AoE damage (which you don't pre-6).
• Fight probably won't last 7 seconds, so you're unlikely to get a second Q despite its shorter cooldown.
• If you baited out a lot of damage on yourself early, you can still apply shield to your ADC without being close to their ADC; however you can't also Q unless you have enough mana for both spells.
• However, if your ADC can win without the help of your shield, superior CC will mean more.

Late game, Q will probably help more; Q also better when setting up jungle ganks:

• In teamfights, extra damage across 3+ members of their team is likely (early on, this damage can be very relevant).
• Extra CC duration will likely help (chasing them down, letting ADC kite, keeping them in AoE, etc.).
• Akali is probably the quintessential example of someone you'd rather have a shield on your ADC than help him kite against, and you likely will need to E her to reveal instead, but vs other high-mobility assassins, shield might be better.

Other advantages of Q-max:

• You get to have Q maxed earlier (as discussed above, E much less relevant after laning is over).
• Late game, levels in W could easily be more valuable than levels of E.  How much damage can they output in .25 seconds?  Their ADC can probably output more than 45 true damage in that time.  So getting E early sacrifices levels of W later.
• Moving Pix to the correct location costs less mana.
• Will help you push lane if desired.

Finally, let's look at mana-cost efficiencies:

These damages are assuming you hit one target with Q; if you hit both, the Q ratios would be doubled.  As you can see, Q is more mana efficient per level than E at later levels, assuming you're able to hit it "most" of the time.  The second column in the third chart tells you the average number of targets you need to hit with your Q for it to be mana-efficient to level and cast Q over E.  So for example, if you hit your Q 90% of the time then it's not worth it to level Q to 3, but if you do decide to do that then at 4 it becomes efficient to be using Q instead of E.  (Note that this assumes you're using E for damage and not for shield.)

These charts show Damage:Mana efficiencies of your E-Q combo depending on how many targets you hit.  The color represents different possible ability splits between champion level 2 and 9 (it's assumed you only take one point in W, at either 3 or 4, and you take ult at 6).  As you can see, if you are hitting at least one target per Q, you'll do better by leveling Q; the other columns show you how much better.

Finally, this chart shows you the mana efficiency of Eing a creep and then hitting the enemy champions with Q from the E'd creep.  Your ability to do this is often an argument in favor of a Q-level because it massively increases your poke range.  But how mana-efficient is it actually?  The answer is that it scales up massively as you level your Q.

So, which skill should you level?  I usually like to get E at 2, 4, and 5, and then switch to Q after that.  But if there's not much trading between the ADCs I'll go for a straight Q-max, and if I'm really scared of my ADC dying to burst that he can't kite I'll max E all the way.  But the answer is that it really depends, and you should just be aware of reasons to level each one before deciding.

NA SNSS VoDs: 21 April

ARAM
Novice Game
Intermediate Game
Various Game
Advanced Game
ABAM

If you played or watched, please fill out the feedback form here!  I'm especially looking for feedback on whether the various game is a good idea, especially if you played in it.

And of course thanks Tippani for compiling the list of start times.

Botlane Tournament VoDs: Week 12

My stream:

R1G2: Vayne-Taric vs Ezreal-Lulu
R1G4: Varus-Nami vs Graves-Taric
R1G6: Miss Fortune-Sona vs Caitlyn-Taric
R1G8: Miss Fortune-Sona vs Ashe-Lulu
R2G1: Draven-Leona vs Caitlyn-Nunu
R2G4: Draven-Taric vs Tristana-Janna
R3G1: Draven-Tresh vs Graves-Blitzcrank
R3G2: Tristana-Taric vs Quinn-Sona
Finals: Graves-Thresh vs Quinn-Sona

Zarikai's stream, Its PJ casting:

R1G1: Caitlyn-Lulu vs Ezreal-Sona
R1G3: Varus-Thresh vs Ezreal-Sona
R1G5: Varus-Thresh vs Quinn-Sona Part 2
R1G7: Twitch-Janna vs Miss Fortune-Lulu

Thanks Tippani for compiling <3


SNSS today!  And I'm in the middle of writing a thing about leveling Lulu's skills early on, hopefully should finish that tomorrow.

LCS Game Summaries: Week 10 Day 3

Game summaries from the last day of the spring split of LCS.  Definitely still looking for feedback!  I might do the same thing for OGN, and I'm more likely to do so if people tell me they like these, and I'm more likely to do them the way you want me to if you tell me what I can improve.  :)

Game 1: Marn vs CLG

Bans (Marn first): Cho'gath -- Renekton -- Nidalee -- Riven -- Shen -- Malphite

Picks: Twisted Fate -- Vayne Sona -- Jarvan IV Thresh -- Jax Amumu -- Tristana Irelia -- Ahri

MegaZero: Irelia, Ignite/Flash
ClakeyD: Jarvan IV, Smite/Flash
ecco: Twisted Fate, Barrier/Flash
Nientonsoh: Tristana, Flash/Cleanse
Heartbeat: Thresh, Flash/Exhaust

HotshotGG: Jax, Flash/Teleport
Chauster: Amumu, Smite/Flash
Link: Flash/Ignite
Doublelift: Flash/Cleanse
Aphromoo: Exhaust/Flash

Very good level-1 play from Marn, securing both blue buffs and setting Chauster behind in the jungle.  However, first blood did go to CLG at about 8 minutes, after top and bot outer turret had been pushed by CLG and Marn respectively.  A 4v5 engage from Marn at dragon at about 10:30 looked like it would snowball CLG, and they pushed several more turrets, picking up another free dragon and even top inhib turret by 20 minutes, getting the inhibitor at about 22 minutes and shortly after also pushing down mid inhibitor.

However, Marn began to come back, with ecco and Nientonsoh picking up a kill on Doublelift near botlane at about 26 minutes.  Instead of defending their base from the two waves of super minions, Marn decided to go for Baron.  Their attempt was successful, but they sacrificed their bot inhibitor and a nexus turret in the process, Tristana barely getting out in time to save the second nexus turret thanks to a shield from Thresh blocking Sona's autoattack damage from interrupting her recall.

After the baron, Marn began to win fight after fight, successfully defending their respawned top inhibitor and giving Nientonsoh a delayed pentakill (he did get the quadra).  Marn took the gold lead and were able to wait out all of their inhibitor respawns, picking up another baron and ultimately picking up an ace for just Jarvan in midlane at about 41 minutes.  Without any minions to push with, Nientonsoh traded tanking turrets with MegaZero, and despite Chauster's respawn, Marn was able to pick up the nexus.

Game 2: Curse vs Complexity

Bans (Curse first): Zed -- Volibear -- Jayce -- Thresh -- Shen -- Jarvan IV

Voyboy: Gragas (Teleport/Flash)
Saintvicious: Udyr (Flash/Smite)
Nyjacky: Twisted Fate (Ignite/Flash)
Cop: Caitlyn (Barrier/Flash)
Elementz: Lulu (Exhaust/Flash)

Nickwu: Darius (Ignite/Ghost)
Lautemortis: Amumu (Smite/Flash)
pr0lly: Kha'zix (Flash/Ignite)
brunch U: Miss Fortune (Barrier/Flash)
M eye A: Kayle (Ignite/Flash)

The beginning of the game was a bit rough for Complexity, with Miss Fortune and Kayle arriving botlane over 30 seconds late, since they wanted to guarantee a 2v2 lane vs Caitlyn/Lulu.  First blood came in toplane around 6 minutes with an incredible dive by Kha'zix in toplane on Gragas.  Kha'zix fell immediately after, as Udyr was there also, and Darius almost fell, barely saved by Amumu's counter-counter-gank.  Almost 3 minutes later, Complexity was able to pick up a free dragon after Curse's botlane had based, and they climbed into a comfortable gold lead.  This lead was solidified when Twisted Fate and Gragas both ganked botlane but got no kills, spending two whole minutes in a 4v3 in botlane.  They eventually got the turret, but Darius had gotten top turret, and almost immediately after, Complexity was able to pick up Curse's outer bot turret and then another dragon at 21 minutes.

After Complexity's excellent control of early objectives, they won several fights in a row: one near their own blue buff (4 for 3) and then another one in midlane (3 for 0).  They were able to pick  up the first baron of the game at 24:40, also picking up kills on Caitlyn and Udyr for the delayed 5-for-0.  Complexity continued to apply pressure, and with a bit of patience, well-timed tower dives, and a second baron at 33:42, they were able to gradually push down all of Curse's base, picking up the nexus at 48 minutes.

Game 3: TSM vs GGU

Bans (TSM first): Riven -- [penalty so no ban] -- Elise -- Renekton -- Thresh -- Draven

Picks: Shen -- Caitlyn Nasus -- Sona Karthus -- Lux Caitlyn -- Nocturne Varus -- Janna

Dyrus: Shen (Ignite/Flash)
TheOddOne: Nocturne (Smite/Flash)
Reginald: Karthus (Flash/Exhaust)
WildTurtle: Varus (Flash/Cleanse)
Xpecial: Sona (Ignite/Flash)

ZionSpartan: Jayce (Ignite/Flash)
NintendudeX: Nasus (Smite/Flash)
Jintae: Lux (Flash/Ignite)
DontMashMe: Caitlyn (Cleanse/Flash)
Daydreamin: Janna (Exhaust/Flash)

An uneventful level 1 with GGU's duo lane going top suddenly exploded in GGU's favor at about 4:30 with NintendudeX on Nasus ganking TSM's duo botlane and picking up first blood and two kills, one for himself and one for ZionSpartan's Jayce.  At 6 minutes, GGU was about 1k gold ahead of TSM, and they picked up the first turret of the game at 7:50.  However, GGU's poke comp was unable to deal with the dive from Nocturne, and TSM picked up a kill in midlane just before 10 minutes and also grabbed dragon.  A few minutes later, TSM continued to show just how strong their global comp was, with Karthus helping WildTurtle and Xpecial pick up kills on DontMashMe and Daydreamin while they were fighting 2v2 in top.

GGU were able to pick up the remaining two outer towers as the early game was transitioning into midgame, as they had been able to apply a lot of pressure and get a lot of damage down earlier.  But whenever TSM had global cooldowns available, they made plays happen on the map, picking up dragon when available and continually pushing turrets.  Their first baron was just before 29 minutes, and after a few more pickoffs TSM were able to push all three inhibitors by 36 minutes.  Despite Baron's respawn, TSM decided to heal before securing that objective, taking out Janna, Nasus, and Lux as they tried to steal baron while Reginald's Requiem picked up a kill on Jayce set up by Shen, letting TSM easily pick up the nexus.

Game 4: Dignitas vs Vulcun

Bans (Dig first): Jarvan IV -- Diana -- Karthus -- Caitlyn -- Thresh --Shen

Picks: Renekton -- Sona Nasus -- Volibear Draven -- Malphite Tristana -- Gragas Alistar -- Cassiopeia

KiWiKiD: Renekton (Flash/Ignite)
Crumbz: Volibear (Smite/Ghost)
scarra: Gragas (Flash/Ignite)
imaqtpie: Draven (Flash/Cleanse)
Patoy: Alistar (Exhaust/Flash)

Sycho Sid: Malphite (Flash/Teleport)
Xmithie: Nasus (Smite/Ghost)
mancloud: Cassiopeia (Flash/Ignite)
Zuna: Tristana (Flash/Barrier)
BloodWater: Sona (Flash/Exhaust)

Dignitas took an early lead with a ghost lane gank at 4 minutes by Crumbz on Volibear, taking out Bloodwater's Sona for first blood despite Bloodwater's flash.  Two minues later, Crumbz came bot, diving Sycho Sid.  An incredible Alistar play by Patoy fed Draven two kills as Xmithie came in for a counter gank.  The tower went to Dignitas, but Vulcun was able to pick up top tower a minute later, Dignitas answering that tower kill with the first dragon of the game.  Draven continued getting kills, as Volibear sacrificed himself to dive Cassiopeia at about 12 minutes in midlane and then again to dive Nasus in toplane.

Vulcun started gaining momentum with a teleport play by Sycho Sid's Malphite, pinching off Volibear and Draven as they split-push bot inner turret at about 17 minutes during a dragon dance.  Their momentum continued growing as mancloud was able to pick up a solo kill in botlane on Crumbz, flashing under turret.  A slight hiccup by Zuna in midlane just before 26 minutes led to him getting caught out and dying, but Dignitas got overambitious trying to take down baron, and Vulcun was able to pick up a 4 for 3 exchange, not even needing to burn Malphite's teleport.

Dignitas's baron calls ended up sealing their fate, as a second baron attempt just after 30 minutes led to a free botlane tower for Vulcun in addition to a 3 for 0 exchange in Vulcun's favor.  The engage by Vulcun was delayed as long as possible, and Dignitas was just too low from tanking baron to be able to survive Malphite's teleport on top of the other AoE from Vulcun's comp.  Vulcun ended  up picking up the baron themselves and then went on to grab dragon and inner mid turret.  They were able to successfully take out the top inhibitor turret as well, but Dignitas pushed them off, despite losing an exchange, with only Cassiopeia falling for both Alistar and Renekton.  When Baron respawned, imaqtpie decided to push midlane instead of engaging in the baron dance, and Zuna decided to push the open top inhibitor.  Both teams fully committed to be base race, and Vulcun's damage was barely enough to win the game at 39:24, at most 2 seconds before Dignitas would have pushed down their nexus.

Game 5: GGU vs CLG

Bans (GGU first ban): Malphite -- Twitch -- Cho'gath -- Karthus -- Shen -- Thresh

Picks: Jayce -- Jarvan IV Lulu -- Elise Tristana -- Udyr Ezreal -- Ryze Yorick -- Orianna

ZionSpartan: Jayce (Ignite/Flash)
NintendudeX: Elise (Smite/Flash)
Jintae: Ryze (Flash/Ignite)
DontMashMe: Tristana (Heal/Flash)
Daydreamin: Yorick (Flash/Ignite)

HotshotGG: Udyr (Flash/Teleport)
Chauster: Jarvan IV (Smite/Flash)
Link: Orianna (Flash/Ignite)
Doublelift: Ezreal (Flash/Barrier)
Aphromoo: Lulu (Exhaust/Flash)

CLG's blue buff was an early point of contention between Chauster and NintendudeX, as Chauster went from his red to NintendudeX's, smiting away the buff from Elise.  It wasn't until 4:37 that Chauster actually cleared his blue, and both junglers got behind in level as a result.  Due to the decreased jungle pressure, first blood wasn't secured until 10:50, when Udyr ran out of mana running from Jayce and fell to Ryze attempting to pass between midlane turrets.

The first dragon went to GGU at 15:50 after a teleport bot by HotshotGG and a 2 for 1 exchange in favor of CLG but Doublelift running toplane to waveclear, the game still fairly even.  HotshotGG continued running away from Jayce, leading him all the way from GGU's bot jungle to CLG's top inner turret, freeing up some pressure on the map for his team so Doublelift could push botlane but ultimately falling to ZionSpartan.  Huge damage onto Elise led to CLG picking up the second dragon of the game.

The next two fights remained even in terms of kills, but CLG was able to pick up two more botlane turrets as a result.  Aphromoo tried to aggressively steal GGU's blue buff after a 3 for 3 pushing GGU off baron and ended up falling to Jayce because he didn't have the damage to pick up the buff before the respawn.  The deciding play was at 31 minutes, when GGU started on baron while Udyr was in botlane around the river.  His teleport was available, and CLG had a ward in baron pit, but Udyr chose not to use his summoner spell, despite the fact that GGU was taken very low from tanking the buff.  GGU took the baron buff, and when the fight was engaged there was still no move from Hotshot to teleport up.  CLG were able to disengage and return to base, but GGU picked up the middle inhib turret for free.  Hotshot finally used his teleport to try to defend the turret but ultimately canceled it instead, and GGU was able to pick up a 3 for 1 fight and then push the nexus down at 24:15.

Game 5: Dignitas vs TSM

Bans (Dignitas first): Thresh -- Gragas -- Malphite -- Diana -- Karthus -- Shen

Picks: Nasus -- Sona Twisted Fate -- Zed Draven -- Renekton Miss Fortune -- Katarina Alistar -- Cho'gath

KiWiKiD: Zed (Flash/Ignite)
Crumbz: Nasus (Smite/Ghost)
scarra: Katarina (Flash/Teleport)
imqtpie: Draven (Flash/Cleanse)
Patoy: Alistar (Exhaust/Flash)

Dyrus: Renekton (Ignite/Flash)
TheOddOne: Cho'gath (Smite/Flash)
Reginald: Twisted Fate (Flash/Ignite)
WildTurtle: Miss Fortune (Flash/Barrier)
Xpecial: Sona (Exhaust/Flash)

Both teams invaded at level 1, although it was only to ward.  Reginald sacrificed some health to force Dignitas to be unable to help Crumbz take his blue without smiting it.  In botlane, qtpie and Patoy's Draven-Alistar lane took a huge early lead but they were unable to convert any kills despite Draven's all-consumables opening compared to Miss Fortune's Dorans Blade start.  KiWiKiD took first blood on Dyrus's Renekton with the help of a jungle gank at 5:20, and Dignitas continued taking the kill lead with a botlane gank taking out Xpecial at about 6:30.  However, TSM was able to foil a number of kill attempts by Dignitas, with multiple skirmishes leading to no kills for either side.

TSM took the gold lead after a few kills in their favor, and despite the first dragon going to Dignitas, they held onto their gold lead by taking three turrets by 15 minutes to Dignitas's 0.  A couple of misplays from Reginald, however, swung the momentum in Dignitas's direction, as he gave up a kill in toplane to Katarina and then ulted to split-push bottom, resulting in all three turrets falling to Dignitas in addition to the middle inhibitor.  Dignitas used their super-minion advantage to take out multiple side-lane turrets, but at 24 minutes, Dignitas over-committed to a dive and gave up a triple kill to WildTurtle's Miss Fortune.  TSM used this temporary numbers advantage to force Scarra's teleport by pulling Baron at 24:40, but were unable to make anything else of it.

The deciding moment of the game was Dignitas's baron attempt about 30 seconds after TSM's.  Despite Bullet Time and Crescendo being down, TSM were able to force Dignitas off of the buff when it was within kill range from TheOddOne, who flashed over the wall and stole it with Smite and Feast.  The ensuing fight went in Dignitas's favor, but they were only able to pick up a single kill on WildTurtle, and TSM's mid inhibitor respawned during the fight.  TSM were then able to pick off Crumbz when he tried to solo Dragon without his ultimate available.  TSM tried to push down onto the bot inhibitor, but the game-winning fight was actually in midlane, with an initiate from Reginald, gating in and gold-carding Nasus.  The fight was going slightly in TSM's favor, but then a perfectly-timed Bullet Time and Flash-Crescendo onto three members of Dignitas resulted in a 5-0 ace from TSM, and they were able to push down the nexus uncontested at 32:00.

Game 7: Complexity vs Marn

Bans (coL first): Renekton -- Kha'Zix -- Malphite -- Zed -- Jarvan IV -- Amumu

Picks: Thresh -- Twisted Fate Shen -- Caitlyn Jayce -- Sona Twitch -- Nasus Gragas -- Riven

Nickwu: Jayce (Ignite/Flash)
Lautemortis: Nasus (Smite/Ghost)
pr0lly: Gragas (Flash/Teleport)
Brunch U: Caitlyn (Cleanse/Flash)
M eye A: Thresh (Ignite/Flash)

MegaZero: Riven (Ignite/Flash)
ClakeyD: Shen (Smite/Flash)
ecco: Twisted Fate (Barrier/Flash)
Nientonsoh: Twitch (Flash/Barrier)
Heartbeat: Sona (Flash/Ignite)

Marn took a massive advantage over Complexity at level 1, with Twitch picking up a double kill for nothing when they correctly predicted Complexity's invade path.  Riven was also able to turn around an early gank into a kill for herself, picking up double-buff.  Complexity tried changing their lane setup but were unable to come back from their deficit, and Marn was able to use their double-global-ult composition very effectively.  Some very nice flash-hooks from M eye A's Thresh seemed to keep Complexity in the game, and they were able to pick up mid outer turret, but Marn was just too far ahead, and they took kill after kill across the map, picking up Baron around 27 minutes and then closing out the game with a delayed quadrakill fountain dive by Nientonsoh.

Game 8:  Vulcun vs Curse

Bans (Vul first): Miss Fortune -- Shen -- Volibear -- Thresh -- Kassadin -- Renekton

Picks: Zed -- Tristna Elise -- Sona Draven -- Fizz Nunu -- Udyr Xerath -- Ezreal

Sycho Sid: Zed (Flash/Smite)
Xmithie: Xerath (Ignite/Flash)
mancloud: Draven (Flash/Barrier)
Zuna: Udyr (Flash/Ignite)
BloodWater: Sona (Flash/Exhaust)

Voyboy: Nunu (Flash/Ignite)
Saintvicious: Fizz (Exhaust/Smite)
Nyjacky: Tristana (Ignite/Flash)
Cop: Ezreal (Barrier/Flash)
Elementz: Elise (Ignite/Flash)

With Vulcun switching roles, Curse took the first three kills of the game, first blood on Nyjacky's Tristana in midlane and then two kills on Zuna's Udyr thanks to Saintvicious's Fizz ganks.  Vulcun was able to answer with their first kill just before 9 minutes, with a Zed countergank in toplane, and a minute later they took their first tower of the game in botlane after forcing Elise low.  After a few more kills were exchanged, Vulcun picked up the first dragon of the game at 12 minutes and with it took the gold lead despite being down in the kill count.

Vulcun then began pushing into the lead, with an incredible split across the map, Draven and Udyr taking out Baron together as Zed split-pushed two towers in botlane and only Xerath and Sona defended mid against most of Curse.  Draven and Udyr ended up getting caught out, but overall it was a massive power swing in Vulcun's favor.  Vulcun experienced a minor hiccup in midlane getting overconfident diving the inner turret and allowing Tristana to chase them down, netting a 4-1 exchange in favor of Curse at about 27 minutes.  Despite this setback, Zuna was about to bait out almost all of Curse's abilities near their red buff while Nyjacky was split-pushing botlane on the opposite side of the map, and Vulcun picked up all four present members of Curse trading away only Zuna.  This exchange effectively decided the match in Vulcun's favor, and it was only a matter of time before they picked up their second baron and then pushed for the win just before 35 minutes.

LCS Game Summaries: Week 10 Day 2

Watching LCS live today (usually I watch VoDs), and I'm writing short summaries of the games.  I'll update the post throughout the day.  You can find complete VoD indices here (my game start links are taken from there).

I would love feedback on these summaries, especially from people who watched the games, since this is the first time I've done something like this.  Comment on this post or message me on reddit.  I'll even give you a shoutout in the next post I make if you do (and want me to).

Spoilers obviously.


Game 1: Vulcun vs Marn

Vulcun: Renekton/Jarvan IV/Ryze/Tristana/Sona
Marn: Shen/Evelynn/Lux/Twitch/Thresh

Vulcun started out giving Ryze their blue buff, with Jarvan starting at his own red and then trying to steal Eve's.  However, despite the fact that Tristana and Sona were laning mid, Thresh was able to come down from toplane to back up his jungler, and Evelynn smite-stole her own red buff.  Early laning went well for Marn, as Lux farmed very well in her 1v2 lane, and Shen was able to shut out Ryze for a bit.  However, Thresh tried to roam mid, which stopped Nientonsoh on Thresh from being able to push down the top turret, and Zuna and Bloodwater were actually able to take out mid turret a few seconds before Nientonsoh and Heartbeat pushed down top turret.

At about 10 minutes, a botlane gank was turned in Vulcun's favor by a clutch Buster Shot into Crescendo and teleport in from mandatorycloud.  Afterwards, Marn was able to pick up the first dragon, and the next skirmishes either went even or with one kill in favor of Marn.  However, Vulcun was able to pick up two unanswered turrets, and while the gold was never significantly in Vulcun's favor, they started to achieve a clear lead in map control.  The game exploded in Vulcun's favor at about 30 minutes in with a clutch Ryze teleport to catch Thresh out in his own jungle.  Shen's ult was not up after he had recently ulted Twitch in botlane, and Vulcun was able to pick up a 3 for 0.

Soon after, Twitch tried to 1v1 Ryze in toplane.  While Shen ulted in to save Twitch, Jarvan came upriver to help Ryze, and ultimately Vulcun was able to collapse on the toplane and win the fight, leading to a free baron, and Vulcun was able to close out the game at about 40 minutes with a quadrakill going to Tristana.

Game Start

Game 2: Complexity vs TSM

Complexity: Jayce/Jarvan IV/Diana/Caitlyn/Elise
TSM: Kha'zix/Nasus/Karthus/Draven/Sona

With no lane swaps, all of the focus started out in toplane, as both Jarvan and Nasus came up twice by six minutes.  First blood and double buff went to Kha'zix in the first gank, but Jayce was able to pick up a counter kill, evening out the buffs and kills in the toplane.  At about 6:30, the game suddenly snowballed in TSM's favor, as they were able to pick up a 3-0 across the map with Karthus using his Requiem to help out Draven and Sona in botlane pick up a 2-0 and then picking up a solo kill on Diana himself in midlane.

Complexity continued putting all their focus on catching out Dyrus, but he was able to leap away nearly every team.  In mid, pr0lly picked up a kill on Reginald due to a Jarvan gank, but the rest of the fights went in TSM's favor---even when Diana came bot, WildTurtle was able to pick up a double kill with Draven, and the fight resulted in a 2v2.

At about 23 minutes, TSM picked up their second dragon of the game and were then able to run all the way to their inner top turret to collapse on Complexity as Diana dove Karthus.  They won the fight 2 for 0 but were unable to pick up baron.  A few minutes later, while TSM were sieging the inner middle turret of Complexity, they were able to bring Elise extremely low and suddenly picked up a 5-0 ace and were able to push all the way for the win.

Game Start

Game 3: Marn vs Curse

Marn: Malphite/Shen/Ahri/Draven/Sona
Curse: Riven/Volibear/Orianna/Ashe/Thresh

This game started out with the typical lane swap of carry/support going top for the topside team, Curse.  Both junglers chose to go top for the 3:30 tower push/dive, and the exchange actually went slightly in Marn's favor, with Saintvicious on Volibear taken very low by the turret after a Death Sentence landed onto Malphite.  Two minutes later, the junglers swapped sides of the map, and the two outer sidelane turrets were taken.  Marn was able to pick up dragon since Curse had had three top, but Shen was unexpectedly caught out by Orianna, and Nyjacky was able to pick up a solo-kill with his Shockwave and Ignite.

The game continued in Marn's favor, as they were able to turn an incredible fight in botlane with Shen ulting in and a double-kill going to Nientonsoh's Draven.  At about 16 minutes, they were able to pick up another turret, this time in midlane, and soon after collapsed on botlane after turning another fight, this time with Draven picking up a kill on Riven due to a Crescendo.  The next fight also went in Marn's favor, as Ashe landed an arrow on Malphite and MegaZero was able to turn around and ult.  However, Marn overstayed their welcome and ended up giving up a 3 for 4 and Dragon to Curse at about 24 minutes.

After that dragon, Curse started to snowball their game, picking up another mid turret and then catching Sona out with an arrow from Cop.  The Sona catch led to two more free kills and a baron, and Curse were able to force down the mid inhib turret at 31 minutes.  Malphite and Sona had a very well-placed initiate, but it was after the turret had already fallen, and Volibear was able to dive and tank for much longer than Malphite.  Curse didn't end the game immediately, instead waiting to pick up a second baron and then ended up pushing down the entire base and winning at 37 minutes.

Game Start

Game 4: Vulcun vs GGU

 Vulcun: Renekton/Jarvan IV/Diana/Twitch/Sona
GGU: Kha'zix/Elise/Karthus/Tristana/Lulu

Zuna and Bloodwater started out the game very nicely in Vulcun's favor with a clean pickoff on Daydreamin's Lulu in the topside tri bush, first blood going to Zuna's Twitch.  After the first blood, Vulcun took over standard lanes, while GGU sent their carry/support midlane.  The first turret kill went uncontested to Vulcun just before six minutes, and Sycho Sid had been able to pick up a kill on ZionSpartan's Kha'zix in toplane with Xmithie's help about a minute earlier.  A clean blue buff play forced NintendudeX to smite-steal his own buff, and off that Vulcun picked up an uncontested dragon.

Both outer midlane turrets fell before the next dragon spawn, and Vulcun sat at a 3k gold lead going into the next dragon fight, having picked up another kill as well.  Vulcun pulled dragon, but this time GGU did contest, and NintendudeX was able to smite-steal the objective.  However the fight went in Vulcun's favor, with a 4-2 kill swing.  And...then I fell asleep for about an hour and didn't watch the rest of the game.  Oops.  Maybe I'll watch the VoD.

Game Start

Game 5: Dignitas vs Curse

Dignitas: Singed/Volibear/Evelynn/Caitlyn/Zyra
Curse: Renekton/Nasus/Karthus/Ashe/Sona

Woke up while they were dancing around baron, Dignitas already up 14-5 I think.  Very good comeback attempt by Curse to be honest, but Singed was just too tanky in the last fight.  It was unfortunate for Curse that, after Dignitas engaged on Curse's tank, Ashe arrowed one of Dignitas's tanks instead of holding for someone squisher, and also Renekton took a while to teleport in.

I didn't take notes on this game so not much of a summary.  Will do next game though!

Game Start

Game 6: CLG vs Vulcun

CLG: Shen/Amumu/Lux/Tristana/Sona
Vulcun: Renekton/Jarvan IV/Ryze/Twitch/Lulu

Vulcun started the game out looking extremely strong, able to pick up both blue buffs and denying Amumu's first blue.  They sent their ADC/support duo top, and with Xmithie's help, they were able to pick up the first tower at about 5 minutes, with Doublelift and Aphromoo picking up CLG's first tower a few seconds later in botlane.  First blood was a very clean gank by Jarvan on Lux in midlane, but a slight tactical misplay caused Vulcun to give up the first dragon of the game at about 8 minutes: They successfully stole a second blue buff, but it cost Xmithie's smite, and so Chauster was able to smite CLG's dragon attempt; Vulcun was in position to contest but chose not to.

CLG began to come back a bit after picking up a kill onto Xmithie's Jarvan IV and mid turret, and then bluffing Vulcun away from their dragon attempt despite having neither of their AoE CC ults available.  A nice bait by Sycho Sid on Renekton near their innter top turret caused Vulcun to come back a bit, saving their turret and picking up Aphromoo, but the next fight went massively in CLG's favor: at dragon, Xmithie missed his smite and Sona picked up the dragon kill, CLG picking up two unanswered kills on top of the objective.  Ryze was able to pick up bot outer turret at 20 minutes, evening out the gold.  Vulcun looked to be in a very strong position, but CLG caught Lulu out while Bloodwater was trying to ward baron.  Despite the fact that they burned both Crescendo and Cure of the Sad Mummy, and Vulcun should have had the upper hand in the immediate 4v5 fight, Jarvan engaged and Ryze teleported in early, before Twitch was near enough to fight, and CLG picked up a 2-for-1 fight in addition to mid inhib turret and the inhibitor itself, plus top inner turret.

Vulcun was able to hold on decently well after that fight at first, even picking up dragon and retaining their gold lead.  But CLG, with great positioning, baited Vulcun to toplane and then took a very quick baron just after the 34-minute mark.  They continued to push on the top inhibitor turret, and successful crowd control from Sona and Amumu, in addition to a huge amount of damage from Tristana, were able to get them a 3-0 fight.  The rest of the game was just cleanup for CLG, picking up top inhib turret and inhibitor and then the middle inhibitor after its respawn.  Vulcun looked like they might have been able to hold on, but CLG showed that they were just being patient as they picked up a 4-0 at the very end, pushing the nexus just before the 40-minute mark.

Game Start

NA SNSS VoDs: April 14

NA SNSS April 14: ARAM
NA SNSS April 14: Novice Match
NA SNSS April 14: Intermediate Game
NA SNSS April 14: Various Game
NA SNSS April 14: Team Game
NA SNSS April 14: ABAM


Thanks Tippani for compiling the list!


Finally finished the schoolwork I was working on, so I'll probably get back to writing my Nami guide...but mostly I'm just casting a lot.

Shields and %HP Damage

If you do %HP damage to a shield champion, the shield blocks the damage but doesn't count towards your current HP when calculating how much damage the ability does.

Example:

Morgana has 500 HP total and is currently at 200 HP.  Elise's Q is dealing 40 magic damage + 8% of current health.  So it will deal 56 damage to Morgana (obviously reduced by MR).  If Morgana barriers while at 200 HP, bringing her effective HP to 315, Elise's Q will still deal 56 damage to Morgana's shield.

The same effect happens when Morgana uses her own black shield (which is obvious when considering the result from barrier, but we tested it anyway).

As a side note, if you take damage from a skill that only deals damage to your Barrier, that damage isn't listed in your death recap.  Also, Morgana's black shield results in strange rounding errors.



Keywords to help out people who are trying to google this question like I was last night:  League of Legends, shields block percent HP damage, shields block percent health damage, shields block damage based on current health, damage based on current health and shields, current health damage and shields

Botlane Tournament VoDs: Week 11

R1G2: Ezreal-Sona vs Caitlyn-Leona
R1G4: Graves-Alistar vs Vayne-Thresh
R1G6: Ezreal-Lulu vs Caitlyn-Leona
R1G8: Caitlyn-Nunu vs Ashe-Janna
R2G2: Graves-Taric vs Tristana-Leona
R2G4: Caitlyn-Soraka vs Miss Fortune-Sona
R3G1: Corki-Leona vs Miss Fortune-Taric
R3G2: Miss Fortune-Zyra vs Caitlyn-Soraka
Finals: Ashe-Soraka vs Miss Fortune-Taric

Macduffer's stream:
R1G1: Sivir-Thresh vs Varus-Janna
R1G3: Miss Fortune-Leona vs Tristana-Lulu
R1G5: Miss Fortune-Leona vs Twitch-Leona
R1G7: Miss Fortune-Leona vs Corki-Thresh

Thanks to Tippani for compiling the links <3  He's gonna do SNSS too so I'll start posting SNSS VoD lists also.

Unfortunately I forgot to save the week 10 VoD within a week of the broadcast, so twitch deleted it...sad.  Sorry about that.  I didn't realize it deleted videos so soon after.

SNSS today!

Botlane Tournament VoDs: Week 9

R1G1: Sona-Ezreal vs Twitch-Thresh
R1G2: Alistar-Varus vs Leona-Draven
R1G3: Nunu-Vayne vs Lulu-Cait
R1G4: Leona-Caitlyn vs Blitzcrank-Graves
R2G1: Leona-Caitlyn vs Lulu-Miss Fortune
R2G2: Nunu-Caitlyn vs Taric-Tristana
Finals: Leona-Tristana vs Lulu-Miss Fortune

VoD is split into two parts for this week because I bluescreened in the middle.  Thanks to dajjbomb for compiling the entire list for me!!

My excuses for not doing this myself last week (and also the general lack of posts recently) are that I've been (gasp) playing League.  And also I was casting another tournament Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights (VoDs here, here, and here).  And also SNSS.

I'm casting for LRSS now, so you might be able to find me streaming on their streams (here and here) sometimes.  If you don't know what LRSS is, I definitely encourage you to look it up---it's a great opportunity for bronze/silver/maybe gold players to play competitive games, and they're casted, which is always awesome.

And finally, I'll leave my thoughts about the Nami buff (her ult base CD being reduced from 140 seconds to 120 seconds at level 1)...WOW!!  She's going to be pretty good against Sona now.  And less bad against Lulu...a LOT less bad against Lulu.  It also makes MF/Nami a strong combo, because their ults now have the same CD.  The range buff is also going to help; I've definitely missed ults by like 100 range more times than I care to remember.